Board of Directors Meeting Nov 6, 2024
11/8/2024 Revision: Target Recipient Eligibility
Robert Kocourek W9RKK Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:00PM
Attendees
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Secretary’s Report
Cliff Sowka K9QD: October BOD Meeting Minutes as published in the RHG: Paul Burkett KD9FMN moved to approve and seconded by Danny Kafka KD9HIL. Motion Adopted.
Treasurer’s Report
Chris Brewer AC9GN not present.
Public Service
Rob Glowacki N9MVO not present.
EMCOMM
Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK is our acting Chairman until someone may step-up to assume the role.
· November 13th Fall Workshop at the Prairie Arts Center, SARC is grateful for the opportunity to do a 10 minute presentation beginning 6PM. We’ll be using PowerPoint.
· SARC has been offered a 10-15 minute time slot at the Village of Schaumburg to talk about Amateur Radio. It’s suggested that our presentation include discussion about Emergency Communication. I’ve provided a copy of our presentation and thank the Board for approving the material.
Repeaters
Rob Glowacki N9MVO, Terry Jarnholm AE9TJ not present.
Rob N9MVO and Cliff K9QD hosted professional site diagnostics at our 2M Repeater site last week. About three hours were invested in comprehensive testing of VSWR, impedance match, transmission line observation, and general health of plant electrics. Our 2M machine’s innards specifically underwent bench test; can’t find any noise anywhere….even with first-class test gear and knowledgeable talent at the controls.
Also went out to ladder tunnel, disconnected lightning suppressor, analyzed at that point, checked for moisture, re-wrapped with sticky Ham Radio goo. All fine.
Professional opinion offered: New Antenna indicated; all else is fine so that must be the culprit.
Lucky to have good wind conditions (no moisture unfortunately) to help irritate things up on the tank but still nothing out of whack.
Board decided to approve expense, begin procurement, and hire professional installation of a new StationMaster antenna.
Construction Project (CP)
Cliff Sowka K9QD reports CP sessions are well attended and we’ve asked the Board for ~$200 budget headroom to purchase two or three 8’ tables and probably ~10 chairs.
· Paul Burkett KD9FMN and Eliot Libner N9EPA will check local Marketplace for bargains and find transport to get new/used equipment downstairs to the meeting area.
There is a large cache of radio equipment stored in the cabinets. Paul Bocci K9NO, Chris Brewer AC9GN, and Tom O’Boyle N9GUN are managing inventory/model/value of a large SK donation as described in the report below. It may be possible to offer an internal auction to our membership before the holidays and have equipment available to view during normal CP sessions beforehand.
Radio Hill Gazette (RHG)
Eliot Libner N9EPA Editor is continuously updating our main page with items of interest derived from internal postings of our membership. This allows our site’s visitors to learn of activities that may normally be only visible inside our club.
VE Testing:
John Schofield AC9JS, Session Manager, reported test results:
|
Class |
|
|
Technician |
4 |
|
General |
1 |
|
Extra |
1 |
|
Total |
6 |
Participating Volunteer Examiners (VEs):
|
Bill |
Davies |
K9WKD |
|
Ed |
Lishka |
AC9SD |
|
James |
Migalla |
KC9UFB |
|
John |
Schofield |
AC9JS |
|
Joe |
Barela |
KB9RCR |
|
Dave |
Carpenter |
W9VTD |
|
Jon |
Wit |
KD9 WNL |
Next examination date: December 7th, 2024
Nets
Attendance remains enthusiastic. Don Dewar KD9NJR reports it would be appreciated if additional members would come forward to handle Net Control at times.
Membership
Scott DeSantis KB9VRW Membership Committee Chairman not present.
Publicity
Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK Publicity Chairman reports Tom O’Boyle’s N9GUN description of Donation Plans for an equipment donation:
Gary Wirth KC9LZM SK Equipment Cache Program
The purpose of this program is to appropriate the donated equipment from the family of Gary Wirth SK to the Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club. The club is responsible for selling or donating the equipment as deemed necessary. The family desires some of the equipment to be given to new or needy hams in honor of Gary.
Equipment List
Club members inventoried all of the equipment over the course of a few sessions. The list generated included equipment make/model and serial number, if appropriate. The program manager then completed internet searches on the equipment to find list price and/or current market prices. In the event that a used price could not be identified, the value of 50% of the new price was used.
The equipment list includes:
· 41 Ham Radio Handheld Transceivers
· 16 VHF/UHF Mobile Transceivers
· 2 HF All band Transceivers
· 2 10m HF Transceivers
· Many mobile antennas and accessories
Many of the transceivers are of the low-cost variety though some are higher end models.
The total estimated resale value of all this used equipment is $11,864.
Program for New Hams and Existing Hams Needing Financial Assistance
The following program is designed to allow Gary Wirth’s legacy to enable new hams and financially assist existing hams who can’t afford new VHF/UHF radios. These radios will allow the receiving hams the ability to access the SARC repeaters and assistance will be provided to program the radios for SARC repeaters.
The proposed program will allocate the following:
· 24 Handheld VHF/UHF radios with antennas, each under $50 in current value
· 3 VHF/UHF mobile transceivers with mobile antennas, each radio under $75 in current value and antennas under $50 in current value
The target recipients will be:
· New hams graduating from the SARC technician classes who join the club as new members in good standing
· Club members who demonstrate to the SARC board their inability to afford a VHF/UHF radio and otherwise would not be able to access the SARC repeaters.
· Target recipients include not-for-profit youth groups or school based HAM Radio Clubs
A recipient will only be allowed to receive one radio from the cache and must be a club member in good standing to be eligible.
Resale to Club Members
The items not included in the legacy cache will be made available to the club members. The proceeds of the items sold will be deposited into the club bank account. The list of available equipment will be published via the SARC-ALL reflector. There will be a minimum bid value established for each item. Each piece of equipment is sold “as-is” and no returns are authorized. It is the responsibility of the purchasing party to look up the technical specifications of each item.
Before bidding begins, the club will hold an open house at the Schaumburg Tennis Club where members can look at current items to determine if they want to bid. TESTING OF EQUIPMENT WILL NOT BE ALLOWED!
After the open house event, club members will be given an email address to send in their bids. The winning bid will be:
· Highest bidder
· If value is the same, the bidder with the earliest email date/time stamp will be declared the winner
Winning bidders will have 7 days to pay for the item via cash or Zelle online. If the winning bidder fails to pay for the item within 7 days, a new bidder will be chosen if multiple bids are received. If multiple bids were not received, the item will be resubmitted to the available list. Club members will have 30 days to complete the bidding process.
Resale to General Ham Community
Any items not sold to club members will be sold to the general ham population through the use of QRZ.com, EBAY, and through hamfests. The proceeds will be deposited to the club’s bank account. This process will be managed by the program manager.
Unsold Items
If items are not sold through any of the processes, they will be donated to club members or disposed of. The items list will be published in SARC-ALL and will be on a first come, first served basis.
Social
John Douglas KD9KSH (not present) is temporarily continuing his leadership role and has reserved Pollyanna facility in Roselle for our Holiday Party:
· Friday January 17th 2025 6~9PM.
Education
Leo N9NBH not present. Leo Ribordy (N9NBH) has secured dates for the next Technician class to be held at the Schaumburg Township District Library (Hoffman Estates Branch).
The classes would start on Saturday January 11, 2025 and continue each Saturday until Saturday March 15th. Classes are published on the Library website (stdl.org).
Programs
Don Dewar KD9NJR: A short video will be presented during the November Election Night count, January meeting will be supplanted by our Holiday Party, and Presentation for February will be decided in the next few months.
Old Business
Nominating Committee is managing an internal list of November Election Night absentee requests.
NOTE: Any member with at least one year membership and in good standing can also submit candidacy the night of our election in November.
· Trusted Talliers John Schofield AC9JS and Bill Reiss KW9WR have received 9 Absentee Ballot Requests at the moment.
New Business
Cliff Sowka K9QD moved for $200 budget request to purchase tables/chairs for Construction Project. Robert Kocourek W9RKK moved to approve and Bill Reiss KW9WR seconded. Motion Adopted.
Don Dewar KD9NJR suggested we plan better room rental agreement/clarification for meeting reservations. Since SARC is a non-revenue entity for the Park District, they maintain their options for alternant room placement and will vary our meeting locations as needed.
Adjourn 7:41 PM
Submitted Nov 7, 2024
Cliff Sowka K9QD Secretary